Maybe
by sinfullysarcastic
Summary: They wouldn't get their happy endings, but they'd live a full life until they die, a last thought filling their minds before they went to peace: Maybe everything could've been different./ Eddie/Patricia one shot.


Their room was empty, KT nowhere to be seen. Mara was gone too, the four probably on some stupid 'sisterhood' meeting. Eddie knew he should leave, but he hadn't properly been in here since last term. KT had moved in well, her blue bed sheets splayed over the bed, her side of the room refreshing, calm, and cool. Joy's was sunny and yellow, even though last term her personality was the opposite. Eddie admitted he had once strongly disliked her, but had come to admire her as a person.

And Patricia's side. It had been a long time, yet her choice in decorating had stayed the same. Dark bedspread with band posters all over. He was probably the only one in the whole house who knew what she meant when she said 'Maybe' was a good song.

He missed her too much. He'd been broken up with before and he'd crushed a couple hearts himself. Why was this so hard for him? Was it just having to see her every day?

No. He knew that in the back of his mind, the answer would always be no. It was more than having to see her. It was having to think about her when he was alone in his room, with music blasting. It was having to wonder what he did, thinking back, unable to remember anything other than how she crushed his heart at that airport before boarding that stupid plane.

What had he done? He hadn't kissed another girl, hadn't insulted her deeply, hadn't been late on a date- in his mind, he had done everything right.

Seeing her side of the room reminded him of everything. The Sick Puppies poster reminded him of their common interests, that orange pen reminded him of the creamed carrot that had been thrown, the milk that had been spilled, the bet that had been made, and the relationship that had been forged.

All of which had been thrown away in one split second.

KT said Patricia wanted him back, but did she really? She never seemed to look like she thought about him, even though KT said Patricia was being mean to her because of overwhelming jealousy. But Patricia was mean to every newbie.

He wondered if she ever missed them, ever regretted breaking up. Slowly, his fingers grazed her bedspread before sitting down on it. Did she really not care or was it the force field that had gone back up, thick and high?

"What are you doing here?" A familiar British drawl scowled at him, and he mentally face palmed. He should've anticipated someone would walk in, and it just figures it had to be Patricia.

"I was just leaving," he mumbled, getting up. She narrowed her eyes suspiciously but stepped aside so he could get out the door.

She had almost closed the door when he asked, "Why?" His voice filled with deep pain mingled with a sudden curiosity. They both knew what he was talking about, yet neither knew what to say next.

"Why?" his voice echoed. "What did I do wrong?" He looked so forlorn standing at the doorway, the smug smirk wiped off his face in exchange for a look of seriousness. She opened her mouth to speak, but quickly closed it, unable to say anything.

"I just want to know why," he said quietly. "C'mon, Yacker, can't you at least tell me what I even did?"

But it was to no avail. The force field which he had knocked down was back, and it wasn't coming down anytime soon.

"Leave," she closed her eyes, bracing herself.

"But-"

"Just go, Eddie." And it hurt, it hurt beyond words to send him away like this, to lock him out. But it was what she'd always done, it was second nature and her first instinct. She waited until she was sure the footsteps had receded to the point where she couldn't even hear them, where she could pretend he hadn't even come in the first place.

Closing the door, she leaned against it, hugging her knees to her chest, her voice choked with unshed tears as she spoke. "I was scared," she said. "I was so scared."

* * *

Eight years later, Eddie would be getting married to a blonde woman with perfect green eyes and a smile commercial-worthy, and Patricia to a man with brown, shaggy, hair, and dimples and blemish-free skin.

On the day of each of their respective wedding days, they would find a scrapbook collecting dust in whichever place they would choose to live. They would cautiously open the scrapbook, deep purple with black accents, peering inside and regretting it.

They would ache. The pictures, the memories, it would be too much. They would close the book suddenly, a cloud of dust flying up. And then they'd tell themselves to throw it out, chuck it in the garbage can, because they were getting married for god's sake, and this was just not acceptable, for the letters on the front page, made in glittery black stickers, to stand out so much, to be mocking them.

And brains would overrule hearts, and it would disappear as suddenly as it was found, emptied into the garbage can, their last tie to each other. Patricia would give a rueful smile before straightening her wedding dress, and Eddie would shake his head before walking away in his tux.

Maybe, if he tried harder, Patricia would be the one walking towards him on the aisle instead of some cheating blonde whore who was having an affair that he wouldn't know about until later, causing him to sign divorce papers.

Maybe, if she didn't push him away, Eddie would be the one standing at the end of the aisle, waiting for her, whispering a hushed compliment as she arrived, instead of some man who would eventually leave her for another woman who she would eventually catch a glimpse of- some blonde with a pearly smile, no matter how wicked.

But he didn't try harder.

But she did push him away.

They wouldn't meet again and life wouldn't end like a fairy tale Eddie would get remarried to a brown haired beauty while Patricia would forget how to do something as stupid as trust, opting to sit alone in a retirement home many years later, playing poker with the best of them.

They wouldn't get their happy endings, but they'd live a full life until they die, a last thought filling their minds before they went to peace…

_Maybe everything could've been different. _


End file.
